# Gilbert Ballet

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**Gilbert Ballet** (March 29, 1853 – March 17, 1916) was a French [psychiatrist](/source/Psychiatrist), [neurologist](/source/Neurologist) and [historian](/source/Historian) who was a native of [Ambazac](/source/Ambazac) in the department of [Haute-Vienne](/source/Haute-Vienne).

He studied medicine in [Limoges](/source/Limoges) and [Paris](/source/Paris), and subsequently became *Chef de clinique* under [Jean-Martin Charcot](/source/Jean-Martin_Charcot) (1825–1893) at the [Salpêtrière](/source/Salp%C3%AAtri%C3%A8re). In 1900 he became a professor of psychiatry, and in 1904 established the department of psychiatry at [Hôtel-Dieu de Paris](/source/H%C3%B4tel-Dieu_de_Paris). In 1909 he succeeded [Alix Joffroy](/source/Alix_Joffroy) as chair of clinical psychiatry and brain disorders at the Hôpital Sainte-Anne.[1]

In 1909 Ballet was elected president of the *Société française d'histoire de la médecine*,[2] and in 1912 became a member of the [Académie des sciences](/source/Acad%C3%A9mie_des_sciences).

Ballet is remembered for his 1903 publication of *[Traité de pathologie mentale](http://catalog.hathitrust.org/Record/005699453)*, which remained a principal reference book on psychiatry for nearly fifty years in France. In 1911 Ballet described a disorder he called *psychose hallucinatoire chronique*, being defined as chronic [delirium](/source/Delirium) that consists primarily of [hallucinations](/source/Hallucination). In French psychiatry, "[chronic hallucinatory psychosis](/source/Chronic_hallucinatory_psychosis)" was to become classified as a distinct entity, separate from other self-delusional disorders.[3][4]

Among his other works were a 1888 publication on [inner speech](/source/Inner_speech) in [aphasia](/source/Aphasia), *Le Langage Interieur et les Diverses Formes de l'Aphasie*,[5] an 1897 treatise on [hypochondria](/source/Hypochondria) and [paranoia](/source/Paranoia) titled *Psychoses et affections nerveuses*,[6] and an historical [biography](/source/Biography) on [philosopher](/source/Philosopher) [Emanuel Swedenborg](/source/Emanuel_Swedenborg) ("*Swedenborg; histoire d'un visionnaire aux XVIIIe siècle*"). With [Adrien Proust](/source/Adrien_Proust), he published *L'Hygiène du neurasthénique*, a book that was later translated into English and published as "The Treatment of Neurasthenia".[7]

## Associated eponym

- "Ballet's sign": [Palsy](https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/palsy) affecting one or more [extraocular muscles](/source/Extraocular_muscles), commonly associated with [Graves' ophthalmopathy](/source/Graves'_ophthalmopathy).[8]

## References

- *Parts of this article are based on a translation of an equivalent article at the [French Wikipedia](/source/French_Wikipedia)*.
- [*Gilbert Ballet*](http://www.whonamedit.com/doctor.cfm/658.html) @ [Who Named It](/source/Who_Named_It)

1. [Notice biographique](http://psychiatrie.histoire.free.fr/pers/bio/ballet.htm) Histoire de la psychiatrie en France

1. [Notice bio-bibliographique at Biu Santé](http://www.biusante.parisdescartes.fr/histoire/biographies/index.php?cle=804)

1. [Schizophrenia](https://books.google.com/books?id=_JNTS5hNQywC&dq=%22Chronic+hallucinatory+psychosis%22+Ballet&pg=PA58) edited by Steven R. Hirsch, Daniel R. Weinberger

1. [A Historical Dictionary of Psychiatry](https://books.google.com/books?id=juAJCAAAQBAJ&dq=%22Chronic+hallucinatory+psychosis%22+Ballet&pg=PT165) by Edward Shorter

1. [https://pure.mpg.de/rest/items/item_2272804_4/component/file_2272803/content](https://pure.mpg.de/rest/items/item_2272804_4/component/file_2272803/content)

1. [Gilbert Ballet - bibliography](http://www.whonamedit.com/person_bibliography/658/) at [Who Named It](/source/Who_Named_It)

1. [The treatment of neurasthenia](http://catalog.hathitrust.org/Record/100479203?type%5B%5D=author&lookfor%5B%5D=%22Ballet%2C%20Gilbert%2C%201853-1916.%22&ft=) HathiTrust Digital Library

1. Elaine A. Moore (1 October 2003). [*Thyroid Eye Disease: Understanding Graves' Ophthalmopathy*](https://books.google.com/books?id=z8DCXgLROHgC&pg=PA32). Trafford Publishing. pp. 32–. ISBN 978-1-4120-0911-9. Retrieved 30 April 2012.

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Adapted from the Wikipedia article [Gilbert Ballet](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gilbert_Ballet) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gilbert_Ballet?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.